The titular movie monster in Universal’s reboot of The Mummy is already drastically different than any previous incarnation because this is the first time the undead terror has been played by a woman. Sofia Boutella is the monster at the center of the movie, however, the original plan wasn’t going to be all that innovative. But thanks to a decision made by the X-Men franchise, the entire design of The Mummy was changed.

Director Alex Kurtzman sat down for a recent interview and revealed how X-Men changed The Mummy design, saying that the original design for the monster was a male. Find out why they changed the design after the jump.

In an interview with CinemaBlend, here’s what Kurtzman had to say about the original design for The Mummy:

“There was a moment when I had sort of rendered a design that I liked for a male version of The Mummy. And in that version of The Mummy, the Mummy had been born with a skin pigmentation that at the time would have made him really sort of an outcast. And I thought it was an interesting backstory, because it began to tell the story of someone who had been bullied, which I found topical. I was reaching for a way to make the Mummy a character who is relatable, understandable, and that spoke to issues that we’re dealing with now.”

That sounds rather similar to the thematic elements of the X-Men, but that’s not actually why the design was changed. In fact, it was actually more of an aesthetic decision than anything else. Kurtzman further explains:

“I was going down that road, and then I saw the end of Days of Future Past. And they had the character that Oscar Isaac wound up playing as a boy, and it was, I kid you not, the exact same design. And I was like, ‘Oh, man! That is not good!’ And actually it was the catalyst, it was the moment of, ‘Okay, not only is this not going to be different enough, Bryan Singer just did it, I definitely don’t want to go down that road.’ I had had that voice in my head for some time to make it a woman, and that was the moment where, the minute I saw that post-credits scene, I went, ‘We have to start over. I don’t want to mess around even remotely with anything that feels familiar or feels like it’s been done. I have to go in totally new territory.’”

Having a woman take on the role of The Mummy is one of the things that makes the horror action adventure movie look more enticing than it otherwise might be, so this decision was clearly for the best. It remains to be seen if the movie itself will bring anything else fresh to the table that makes the movie worth seeing or if will just be another reboot that doesn’t warrant our time.

The Mummy hits theaters on June 9, 2017, and you can watch the first trailer right here.